


Shattered Rose Glasses

by Vialana



Series: Find Someone to Carry You [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Coda, Introspection, Light Angst, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Season/Series 03, episode 3x02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2017-09-03
Packaged: 2018-12-23 09:22:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11986881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vialana/pseuds/Vialana
Summary: Keith isn’t ready to say goodbye to Red, but the choice isn’t up to him. Coda to 3x02.





	Shattered Rose Glasses

**Author's Note:**

> Not as much Keith/Lance in this one (though it's there) which is too bad because Keith really needs a hug.
> 
> Enjoy!

“Before you say anything, she’s perfectly fine: all systems go, purring happily, not a scratch on her.”

Lance jumped from Red’s mouth before she’d finished lowering her head to let him out. Keith stumbled to a halt inside Red’s hangar, watching Lance trip over himself. He smiled at the familiar sight of the blue (red) paladin’s antics but it faded as his gaze fell on the Lion hovering over Lance.

Red was silent in a way she hadn’t been since Keith first reached for her in Sendak’s ship. Keith could feel Black settled in the back of his mind—dark and heavy, a deep bruise that made his muscles ache—but Red was completely absent.

When Black had responded to him after rejecting everyone else Keith had despaired, desperate to deny her choice. Now, though, he actually felt like crying. Not an ember of Red’s fire lingered in his mind. He ached for her warmth.

“I’ll take care of her.” Keith looked away from Red’s blank face to her new paladin.

Lance's hand was raised, reaching for Keith. But his fingers were curled, as though he started to offer comfort but thought better of it.

Recalling the warm, firm grasp of Lance’s hand on his shoulder after Black’s choice earlier in the day, Keith wished that Lance had completed the gesture.

Instead of saying so, Keith blinked back the burn threatening to turn into tears and nodded. “I know you will.”

Lance smiled, sympathetic—no, _empathetic_ —to Keith’s plight. Of everyone on the ship, he knew exactly what Keith was feeling. Blue had refused him too.

Keith wanted to reach out to Lance the same way Lance comforted him.

Instead, he looked down and summoned his bayard. The red paladin’s bayard.

“Here.”

He pushed the weapon into Lance’s hands. He only waited to see Lance’s surprised expression morph into an accepting nod before he turned around and left Red’s hangar. He ignored Lance’s worried calls, making his way back to Black’s hangar.

He wasn’t running away. He just needed to check on the tracking device. It was important.

Silence followed him through the castle corridors.

 

* * *

 

Sitting in Black’s cockpit was nothing like sitting in Red’s.

Red was warmth and light—sitting in the chair felt like being embraced. Her voice was loud; she let you know when she didn’t like something. She purred when Keith pushed her, delighting in the speed and tight maneuvers of his piloting style. Piloting the Red Lion made him feel like he belonged—she felt like _home_.

Black was cold and sharp. The cockpit was dark—it loomed, the air thick with pain and loss. She was large, bulky, _powerful_ , and yet sedate. She barely spoke, lingering on the edge of Keith’s consciousness like a disapproving parent staring over his shoulder. He couldn’t understand how Shiro had not only earned her respect but actually bonded with her.

It didn’t help that when he sat in the chair it felt like he was desecrating Shiro’s grave.

Not that Shiro was dead—it just felt disrespectful to Shiro’s memory. Like piloting Black meant giving up on Shiro, moving on, forgetting him.

Leaving him behind, like everyone ( ~~Shiro~~ ) always left Keith.

Keith’s hand trembled as he reached for the controls for the tracking device. The purple screen lit up instantly. It was like sitting inside a Galra ship. And just as responsive to Keith’s slightest touch. The Black Lion was adamant about her preferred pilot. Nevermind that his first battle piloting her led to the worst performance Keith had ever had in a cockpit—even the worst of his Garrison simulations hadn’t been as bad as fighting Lotor.

Still, however much Keith hated it, he had to get used to his new role.

Black purred approvingly.

Keith shivered. Her voice was so different to Red’s: too authoritative. Keith had never been a voice of authority. He was talented, yes, but he didn’t have the patience—or experience—to deal with others. He didn’t know the first thing about inspiring people, leading them, _guiding_ them. He was going to get the team (his family) _killed_.

Keith had never felt insecure about his piloting abilities before, but everything about this situation was making him doubt—himself, the team, Shiro, his dedication to fighting the Galra.

How the hell had Shiro dealt with this pressure?

Keith looked up at the ceiling. “Black, please, I can’t do this. Please don’t make me do this.”

The Black Lion was silent and unyielding. She was not going to give him up. She wasn’t going to let _him_ give up.

Keith looked back down. “Okay.” He took a deep breath. “Okay.”

Satisfaction thrummed through Keith’s entire being. He gasped at the feeling. For a second it felt like the entire universe had lit up and exposed its deepest secrets to him. He’d never been so connected to _anything_ before.

The console scanning for the tracking device beeped to indicate Lotor’s ship had dropped out of hyperspace.

Keith shook his head and the universe’s secrets abandoned him.

He reached for the console again. His hand was steady.

Lotor wasn’t too far away—the castle could probably get close with a short jump and the Lions could catch up to his ship in no time.

“What do you think? You wanna take him out before he can do too much damage?”

Black roared in his mind, ready and approving of any action he would take against their enemies.

It wasn’t the same rush of impulsive desire that Red inspired, but it was a steady thrum of anticipation. Red was a roaring fire at the doorstep; Black was deep thunder threatening a lightning storm on the horizon. Keith should be worried that the only commonality of the two Lions he seemed to align with was their destructive tendencies, but he was too amped up to care much about self-reflection just then.

He had a goal he needed to accomplish.

Keith reached for Black’s controls.

“Let’s go get Lotor.”

**Author's Note:**

> you can find me on Tumblr: [ladyvialana](https://ladyvialana.tumblr.com/)


End file.
